The Business Trip
by Auua Ytjoml
Summary: Cornelius has known since he was twelve years old and went by 'Lewis' that one day one of his time machines would be stolen. So what exactly was he doing on that Business Trip? Paradoxes are tricky things; dangerous things, and Cornelius will stop at nothing to save his son from the one that started it all. (No Slash.)
1. The Trouble with Time Travel

**Allo! I've had this in a drawer for a long time and I've finally decided to finish it. Enjoy!**

**The Trouble with Time Travel**

Cornelius Lewis Robinson. Sometimes it still seems like a big name; too big for one orphanage brat with nothing of his own but big dreams. Of course he hadn't been that kid for a long time now, almost too long in fact.

After all, all of the conditions are right for the time machine to be stolen except two, her of course, and his own adult self. There's never really a slow season, not at Robinsons Inc, and he wouldn't want it that way, but he's never before found himself on seats edge waiting for a business associate to call him away from his family.

Not until now. Not until he and his son are supposed to have an amazing adventure together and the only thing holding it up is his own presence.

_"__Dad's on a business trip till tomorrow. You have till then to fix it."_

_"__Someone's home early!"_

Everyone in his crazy upside down family had been convinced all those years ago, sometime in the future, that he had indeed been on a business trip. Could they be wrong?

All the way home, through dinner, and late into the night he muddles over the 'what if's and 'might be's. It's when he reviewing his own theories on time travel in hopes of sparking some neurons that it strikes him like a blow to the gut.

"That's it!" A thrill of fear races down his spine in unison with that of discovery. "That's the problem. _She's_ the missing link. Of course! But, if the time machine is never stolen… if the time machine is never stolen then… then we never- and she can't- and Wilber-" His already pale complexion blanches white. "No."

Methodically he closes his notes, gathers them into a neat pile and stretches the kinks out of his back. Leaking through the glass dome of his workshop observatory the first rays of sunlight illuminate his face with a ruddy glow, belaying the shadows under his eyes and the slight droop in his posture.

Risk ready and for the first time in thirty years, absolutely refusing to allow for failure, Cornelius Robinson heads for the garage to do what he should have done a long time ago. Invent Doris.

**Well? What do you think?**


	2. Apologies are Hard to Come By

**Apologies are Hard to Come By**

His third and, so he swears, his final working time machine is a lot more dangerous than the first two. It doesn't just move along the central Time Stream for one thing. It's about the size of a watch for another. A lot easier to steal. A lot harder to fix. An incredibly lot more dangerous to operate. But no one else is to know about it, it has no written blueprints – he hadn't dared risk it even if it did make the whole process take longer – and he'll destroy the thing as soon as Wilbur is safely back from dropping off Lewis in the past four days from now.

Because, as dangerous as his mission is _with_ the TAR-15 it's hopeless without it. He'd promised never to invent DORIS and in this timeline he hadn't. And he can't simply invent her now and drop her off in the past because there is no guarantee she will hold a grudge against him or even be similar enough to _the_ DORIS to enact the same strategy.

He'll have to venture into the pocket universes, the oxbows cut off from the time stream by changes to the flow upstream; the past. After that his mission is simple: steal DORIS, bring her back to the central current, turn her back on, and lock her back up in the vaults. Mikey's forsaken older self would have to come to, just to ensure as little as possible changes in the retooling of the events thirty years in the past and three days in the future.

Cornelius laughs with pleasure. No one in this time stream would ever imagine the famous baseball player and chargeball coach Michael G Allson as the grim shadow he alone remembers. Goob had really made a wonderful life for himself and Lius can't regret his decision to change his roommate's future, even if it does make everything devilishly more tricky for him in the here and now. Besides, he, Lewis, still owes the man, _that_ Goob, an apology; an apology and a second chance that with all luck he will be able to deliver when this is over.

That night at dinner, a round three months since he'd initiated his most recent plans for the past, he announces his faux plans for a business trip. He doesn't remember how long he's supposed to be gone so he gives it three days, a long weekend. If he comes back early he'll just hide until the right moment for him to appear.

"It'll be easy", he tells himself over and over again, "plug and chug, just like quantum physics."

The rest of the time he desperately hopes he's not fooling himself into signing away his future and his son on a theory so crazy that he knows even with _his_ daring he'd never present it to the board of critics.

The next morning he strolls out the front door, waves goodbye to his family, and pauses. If everything goes well he'll be seeing them all in just three measly days; seventy-two hours; 259 000 seconds. But if not, he may never see one of them again.

"Wilbur! Wait!"

The teenager turns and for a moment Cornelius sees his best friend again before time and attitude wisk the memory away.

"What. Dad?" His tone is resentful and irritated. Cornelius wonders what happened to turn his little boy into this. He wonders if things will be different between them next week, after the adventure.

"Just wanted to give you this."

Wrapping his arms around his only son, his best friend, and the one person whom he may well love more deeply than anyone in the whole of space-time he holds back his apologies and profusions. Explanations will have to wait until they make sense. But it scares him that of all the lives on the line the one most at risk is his first friend and baby boy. That one person should be both seems cruel now that he must risk everything to ensure nothing changes; to solidify the future with the .000001% probability.

"All right. Enough already." Wilbur is stiff in his arms.

He lets go reluctantly. "All right Kiddo. Stay safe. Use your head. Remember-"

Wilbur raises his head at the catch in his father's throat.

Cornelius pauses. The words don't make sense and he'd already decided not to say them but the apology and explanation roll out anyways.

"I did it all for you."

And then his hand finds the dial and he's off with only a slight buzz of static like that of changing a radio station and a smear of color to indicate that he's going.

Behind him, Wilbur watches the head of Robinsons Inc disappear in a rainbow shroud of light and wonders when, if ever, he'll get his Daddy back.

**Please tell me if anything doesn't make sense. Character development I can fix. Time travel theory might be a bit harder but share anyway. Thank you!**


	3. Wormholes and Memory Loss

**Wormholes and Memory Loss**

The wormholes are trickier than he'd anticipated. His shield flickers. In that moment he glimpses a feel of senseless tumult and, bizarrely, a scaled creature that looks to him as if it had swum out of a Picasso. His world twists. The creature multiplies and recedes with the tide of iridescent light until Lius is no longer sure if it's a single or a school. His eyes try to focus and he retches in slow motion, then listens as the scene echoes back to him as if from a dozen different mirrors. The rainbows intensify, overwhelming him until everything is a fractured shade of fuzzy night sky. By the time he's spit out of the in-between he can barely remember who he needs to collect never mind holding onto the why. He wonders if the fish will tell anyone he was there and then wonders who the fish could tell.

Why is he here again? Will this help him find his mother? No. There is something wrong in that thought even if he can't remember what at the moment.

_Trust your instincts Robinson. Keep moving forward. _

That's a handy saying. Catchy too. Keep Moving Forward. He wonders where he heard it from and is distracted by a math algorithm he swears he solved his senior year of college physics. It wriggles in his mind until it looks more like a balloon animal than an equation.

That's right. Chemistry had been so bubbly. All those models just waiting to be applied to macro-transportation.

_The film needs to be strong enough to hold the weight yet simple enough in composition to dissolve with the addition of a second, non bio-hazardous, compound. You sure you're up to this?_

Of course he was. He'd done it right? Or was it a dream? Do prisms refract or concentrate light? The answer is to be of vital importance but before he can follow the train of thought to its conclusion a green topiary hedge introduces itself into his immediate vicinity with a thorny handshake that jolts him out of his own head and back into his surrounds.

Right. You're here to get DORIS.

Breaking into the vaults below his house is ridiculously easy. No one, man or machine, would think to question Cornelius Robinson on his own turf and as there is no one to question him that's simply beside the point.

Picking up DORIS, who is properly shut down, lending further proof to the rightness of his secret adventure-

_And why is it secret? Wilbur would love a mission like this. Wait. What?_ "Why doesn't that make sense?"

His voice echoes around the barren vaults bringing back memories like shadows of dates he never went on with girls he never met and of inventions he briefly considered but never built. He examines his forarms as if the answers to this phenomenon might be written on their scant pale musculature.

"Curious. I'm integrating with myself."

The trial tests of the hat he holds in his hands stand out starkly amidst the rest, awakening nests of fears he'd though he'd buried and forgotten long ago.

_No one wants me. No one likes me. No one even respects me enough to tell me the truth! Even Wilbur…_

Rejection fades into terror.

_Mid word Wilbur cuts off. For a moment Lewis wonders if his glasses are fogging because Wilbur's outline is looking strangely blurry. _

_"__Lewis?"_

_Lewis stares in horror as the boy across from him dissolves into smoke._

_"__Lewis!"_

"Wilbur!" His heart clenches. In this backwater of time Wilbur doesn't exist and the loss cripples him for a moment because he remembers now. Wilbur. His son. His baby boy and ascending star. Wilbur is the why that had escaped him.

A twist of the watch and Cornelius is sailing once again through the in-between, DORIS under his arm. The fragment he's aiming for this time is so small, a scant twenty-three hours, ten minutes and thirty-two and a half seconds that he suspects he never would have located it at all without the strong emotional attachment he has to the fragment in question. His first twenty-three hours with a family; quite possibly the happiest day of his life, at least up until that point. But he doesn't regret changing it. Mikey deserves better.

Thinking back on the lonely question mark hovering at the bottom of his roomate's notebook he knows that Michael is up to the challenge ahead. The only thing he doesn't know is if the dystopian man is willing to accept the mission, it's risks… and his apology.

**Well, what do you think? I know there's dozens of you reading this... Could a few of you possibly take a moment to jot down your thoughts? Even just a simple 'like it', 'hate it', 'too _' would be nice. **


	4. To Be A Father

**To be a Father**

"So you want me to-"

Corneilius frowns grimly. "It's more of a 'desperately need you to', but, yes."

"You- you really need _me_ to save the world?"

The happiness in Mikey's voice is only eclipsed by the willingness in his grin, a grin so winningly boyish that it reminds Cornelius momentarily of the carefree grin of his mainstream, big leagues counterpart.

"To save _my_ world."

Michael follows Robinson's gaze through the hedge to the faded replay of the pointy haired boy searching the topiary in confusion for the disappearing bowler-hat-guy.

"I don't really understand but-" his mouth twitches as if it doesn't know whether to smile or frown. "I think I'd like to. I'm with you Lewis."

Cornelius lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank you Goob. With all of my heart, thank you." He is just about to continue, the affections of fatherhood and new hope for the future overriding any sense of caution, propriety or manliness when the other man cuts him off with the wobbly beginnings of another smile.

"What else are roommates for, than to assist in the next great invention?"

Cornelius blinks. "You never used to see it that way."

"I was given some bad advice. It took me a while to figure that out."

"Heh. Yeah."

Heads bowed over a fresh checklist, the two almost-friends and nearly-enemies bond, not over baseball or inventions, but over what Wilber Robinson would have called 'a mission straight out of Captain Time Travel'.

_Will call_, Cornelius corrects himself. _I'll tell him all about it and he can mock me for being as reckless as I scold him for being and-_

"Ready Lewis?"

Meeting eyes, the men grasp hands. A twist of the watch and they're gone. Behind them the pocket of time expands, momentarily brightening the in-between before collapsing in on itself until it is nothing more than an ember quickly extinguished by the tides of time.

**Feedback welcome. Especially, I'm interested in if my time travel concepts are making sense.**


	5. Lost Spaceships and Unlocked Doors

**Lost Spaceships and Unlocked Doors.**

They reappear on the rooftop of their first home. The disorientation takes a minute to dispel as their brains catch up with their senses and then it's a quick briefing and goodbye.

"Catch you on the other side!"

Goob nods, only a slight tremor of uncertainty audible in his voice. "Make sure that you do."

Corneilius nods again, unwilling to leave but with nothing left to say. "Allright. See ya Mikey."

Goob reaches out a hand to stop him as his old roommate reaches for the watch. "Mikey? Where'd-" And then he's gone. Goob sighs and writes down a note to ask him about the nickname in the future. For now he's got a lot of waiting to do.

OoO

Traveling up and down his own time-stream is a comfort after the gut-wrenching inside-out-ness of the in-between. Corneilius smiles at the eddies of time breaking against the bubble of protection emanating from the watch, surrounding him in swirls of refracted light. _The truth'll set you free brother._ The rainbow lights never fail to ignite that same sense of '_Whoa'_ he'd felt the first time, following the son he hadn't yet known he would have.

The lights peel away as he rejoins the time flow, four years after dropping Mikey off. In this year, fingers itching to build 'a better DORIS', he'd finally compromised with building her a stand in the vaults. Empty of course; but not forgotten. He wouldn't re-enter the vaults for another ten months; an unprecedented streak of good luck. Sometime in those ten months DORIS would break out and set her plans in motion; leaving his-self in this time clueless. As it should be.

All it takes is a flathead and a wire-stripper and DORIS is set to 'wake up' in just under a day and a half. With luck everything is finally set as it should be.

"And I can go home."

"Daddy! Daddy!"

A black bundle of speed hurdles straight into his legs, knocking him over.

"Wilbur?"

What is his son doing here? How had he gotten this far into the restricted halls? What in the-

Wilbur tugs at his sleeve again completely derailing Cornelius' worry in favor of another train of thought entirely. _This is Wilbur! His son. His friend. He can take him now and keep him safe. They can exist outside of time and Wilbur will never be at risk of disappearing. All he has to do is-_ His hand inches towards the watch.

"What's that Daddy?"

_NO. He can't. He can't do that to his family and he can't do that to himself. Wilbur must stay here and grow up and have his first adventure through time at thirteen._

"Daddy?"

Hugging his sun closer he forces a laugh. "Just a prototype kiddo. Better watch out!"

As expected Wilbur ducks and runs. "Aeei! A prototype! A prototype! Run away! Run away!"

The ten year old smiles in goofy anticipation and with grin Cornelius acquiesces to the unspoken command. He lurches forward as he chases after Wilbur growling, "I'm gonna get you! I'm a big bad prototype and you don't mess around with me. Rawr!"

"Ahhh!" Cutting a corner he scoops up his son in a rolling tackle and proceeds to tickle him senseless.

"No Not the tickle prototype! Stop it! Stop it Daddy! Ah-hah-hah-oh, Stop it! He-he-he! Now I'm the prototype!"

With that little Wilbur lunges into his Dad's arms and wedges his fingers under Daddy's arms.

"Wil! Don't you dare! Ah! He-he-he, stop it kiddo! He-he! Truce! Truce!"

Laughing and giggling the duo collapses, panting, into a jumbled mess of limbs.

"I don't think it's a prototype Daddy."

Cornelius looks up startled. "And why's that?"

"Because you didn't tell me to go away. You always tell me to go away if you have a prototype cause it might go 'BOOM!' and gobble me up."

His first impulse is to laugh at his own foolishness in trying to pull one over on _the_ Wilbur Robinson. Luckily, his second impulse overrides the laughter, which would _not_ have gone over well, and resolves itself into a grimace.

"Ok. You caught me. It's not a prototype. But it _is_ super top secret. Can I trust you not to tell _anyone_ about it? You can't even tell _me_."

Wilbur's face scrunches together, not in confusion but in concentration. Moments like these it's obvious that he inherited more from his father than superb ticklishness and a knack for explosions.

"But- but if you're telling me not to tell you… If you're telling me not to tell you…" Wilbur looks up again bewildered. "Nope. I just don't get that."

Cornelius nods, thankful that he won't have to come up with more lies. "It's complicated; kay Kiddo? But I promise I'll explain everything to you when you're older."

"Ok." His brown eyes fill with such simple trust and love that Cornelius feels the beginnings of tears welling up behind his eyes. He forces them back. Where had this kid gone? The kid who worshipped his father and loved showing off the genius he'd inherited from 'the bestest inventor in the wholest world'.

He refuses to believe that it's just a teenage funk. All too often it's felt like Wilbur seriously hates him and it just doesn't make sense for hormones to be the sole source.

Hugging his son closer he relishes the feeling of being squeezed back for one more second.

"Daddy? Can you let go? I got something for you."

Looking down he blinks crosseyed at the large object being waved back and forth an inch from his face. He should really go; sooner rather than later. Ask the kid to show him at dinnertime and make his escape. But he can't leave him down here all by himself. This is Wilbur. Who knows how much trouble he'll get into otherwise.

"Ok. Show me and then we've got to get back upstairs. I think your mom needed your help."

Only a glancing frown graces his son's face at the mention of chores. Instead he excitedly shoves the toy into his Daddy's hands. Lifting it up, Cornelius recognizes it as a spaceship, about the size of a brick and covered with black and silver lightening bolt patterns. He wonders which competitor or business associate had gotten this for his son. He doesn't recognize it but considering the Robinsons regularly donate chestfulls of essentially brand new toys to foster-system kids each year, that's no surprise.

"That's cool Kiddo. Where'd you get it?"

Wilbur puffs out his chest. "It's mine! I-"

-but his father isn't listening. Slapping a hand across his son's mouth he pockets the toy and pulls them back into a shadowy side hall. In the main corridor they've just abandoned a skittering metallic sound sets both boy's hair on end. Wilbur is annoyed that his Dad can't stop fooling around when he's trying to have the greatest moment of his life, but something about that spidery hat passing their hiding place makes him want to hide under his bed and never come out. Corneilius, for his part, is terrified that DORIS will notice them and ruin everything. He clutches little Wilbur closer as if mere proximity can keep him from being erased.

The seconds pass like hours as DORIS scuttles past, pries open a ventilation duct and crawls inside. Finally Cornelius lets out the breath he'd been holding. How had she woken up so quickly?

"What was that Daddy?"

Spinning, he places his hands on his son's shoulders. "Wilbur. That was a prototype. A very, very bad prototype. I need you to run to Mom and stay with her. Ok?"

Wilbur nods, wide-eyed. He's never seen his Daddy this serious before. Spaceship forgotten for the moment, he wraps his arms around his Dad and glares at him with all the force his ten year old self can muster.

"You be safe, OK Daddy?"

"I will. I promise. Now run."

As soon as Wilbur is safely on his way Cornelius disappears in a bubble of light.

**This was my favorite chapter to write. I love Father/Son bonding! **


	6. Apologies and Other Acts of Love

**Apologies and other Acts of Love**

He reappears in a sunlit dome cluttered with blueprints and a handful of singed family pictures. The nearest shows him holding five-year old Wilbur's hand at the park. He's still here. He's still here. He's got to be.

Forgetting all about appearing 'at the right time' he races down the stairs, up a travel tube, and into the garage. Both time machines are noticeable in their absence.

"He's got to be back. He's got to be OK. **Franny**!" Tripping over what seems like every tool box and spare part in the entire garage Cornelius keeps up the monologue of worry, "**They're gone! Oh, this is terrible!**" His walking straight into a pile of parts, bringing a good part of the shelved items down around him masks his frantic monologue for a moment, "I may only have just wiped our son from the history of the world! See?" The clatter subsides, "**The time machines are gone!"** Cornelius throws his shoulder into the door. "Franny?" His heart thumps painfully as he barges through. Had he managed to erase his entire family? "Where are you? The time machines are gone-"

He stops dead. The sight takes his breath away, astounding him with the simplicity of its miracle. Nearly the entire family is turned to meet him. Most look to be varying degrees of upset, wary or anxious. The one person who doesn't is the twelve year old boy with a startling shock of blond hair who waves shyly.

"Oh!" Himself. He waves back. "Oh!" Everything is ok. Every_one_ is ok. Just how he remembers it as Lewis.

Only- Panic rises again as he searches the crowd for Wilbur. Franny's expression momentarily mirrors his before she realizes who he's looking for and everyone steps aside to allow her to drag their son to the front.

Relief instantly turns into a familiar – how dare he worry me like that – anger, before dissolving into a bubbling stream of joy, which threatens to burst out as giddy laughter. He did it! They did it! Lewis and Wilbur, the TCTFs best of the best!

He pulls out his poker face just long enough to declare "will you give us a moment?" and drag Wilbur back to his room, before crushing him in the biggest hug he can manage. He's sure he can't possibly be any happier when Wilbur, his Wilbur who's _real_ and _here_, tentatively wraps his arms around his father and squeezes back.

"Not that I'm not glad your not mad at me and not that I'm not happy to see you again but I think I'm missing something. " Wilbur pushes him away and stalks distractedly to the window before throwing up his hands, "Namely the part where you're furious with me!? I left the door open and let the time machine be stolen. I took off on my own instead of getting help. I lied to both you and Lewis-you- argh! I don't get it!"

Cornelius shakes his head softly. "Why would I be mad? Everything worked out exactly the way it was supposed to. Tomorrow morning you will take Lewis home. And then we can sit down and I'll explain everything just like I promised."

Sitting down he pats the bed beside him to invite Wilbur over. "Think about it this way. Lewis just had this crazy adventure with you right?"

"Yeah?"

"And you introduced him to the family he's always wanted, you taught him how to keep moving forward, and most importantly, you gave him his first real friend. All that and you think I'm mad?"

Wilbur's eyes light up. "Because… you're _Lewis_! But- why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you- What's that?"

Cornelius looks down at the spaceship he'd slipped out of his lab coat where it had been digging uncomfortably into his side.

"This? One of your old toys. You gave it to me when you were ten."

"But- You- I cant-" Wilbur's face goes through a series of contortions impressive in their scope if no more illuminating for it, before bursting into hysterical laughter.

"Wilbur?" Cornelius leans forward in concern. "Wilbur, what's wrong?" He looks down at the toy in his hand and back up to the thinly shaking frame of his son. Something clicks. "What- what did I do Wilbur?"

In between chokes of something not quite laughter and not quite sobs Wilbur tells him and it's as if the last three years are one of Lazlo's paintings that have suddenly transformed from a Picasso to a DaVinci, from confusion and misdirection to perfect clarity.

"All these years- I made that you know- Self propelled- spy camera- My first invention. And I was so mad at you. I didn't understand why you would lie to me- And all this time you didn't have a clue did you? I suddenly became this strange unruly brat who alternately lied his face off to you and accused you of doing the same thing- and it was all pointless! Just, pointless."

The revelation combines with the terror of being erased and the exhausted relief he'd felt when he'd return to overwhelm his walls and then he's crying uncontrollably and clinging to his Dad for comfort like he hasn't since he picked the locks on the restricted levels and ended up over his head, hiding from the very bowler hat Lewis had just defeated with a father who…

"You built a third time machine. Didn't you Dad? You've been supervising the entire paradox. Lewis and I were never really alone."

He says all this with his face pressed into Cornelius' shoulder but looks up to hear his father's next words.

"Actually… You and Lewis did your part completely without me. All I did was set things up. Speaking of which- I've got an old friend I owe an apology to. Can you round up everyone for dinner? You can tell your mother you're grounded for a month and will be helping your old man out in the observatory."

"But-"

"I know you've got a lot of questions-"

"No! I mean, Yes. But-"

"Allright. One question."

"What I don't get is; Lewis goes back and Doris is never invented and Bowler Hat Guy – he's Coach Allson, isn't he – He never tries to get revenge… Why the third time machine? Why change anything? Why risk making things worse?"

Pulling Wilbur away so that he can look him straight in the eyes, Cornelius says simply, "Without 'all this' the future may have changed. I may have invented something worse than DORIS. Or never have kept inventing in the first place. Worst of all, if even a single factor of _my_ life changed you might not have existed at all. And as your friend and as your father that was a risk I couldn't take."

Wilbur remembers his father's strange farewell. _I did it all for you_. "You- the probability of my existence-"

"I know."

"Lewis!" Wilbur knocks his Dad backward in a bear-hug tackle. They don't let go until a knock at the door sends them scrambling for composure.

"Boys? Are you in there? Cause both of you are in BIG trouble. And Lius? You're in bigger trouble than your son. You owe us- me- a very, very long overdue explanation.

Cornelius winces, grins sheepishly at Wilbur and calls out, "You're right?"

Franny stamps her foot and they can just see her placing a hand on her hip and shaking her finger at them.

"Don't try that on me. If you'd really believed that I would have known that your mysterious Best-"

Cornelius leaps to his feet. "I will Franny! All the details! In private!"

Wilbur levels a long look at his father and raises an eyebrow. "I thought you were going to explain everything?"

He smirks when his Dad has the decency to blush. "Almost everything. Remember; certain things in my past are still in your future. It's-"

Wilbur sighs in resignation. He may have ignored the first rule of time travel safety, **Don't Do It**, but he understands all to well what knowing too much about one's future might do. And now he understands _why_ his father had insisted he understand the blueprints of every single model and prototype, even if he'd never let him be there for the tests; and why his favorite form of punishment since Wilbur had been old enough to grasp the vocabulary had been lecturing him on the intricacies of time travel, its dangers, and all the latest theories – most of them his own – on the rules of what most ruled an impossibility and the rest ruled an incalculable risk.

"I get it Dad. I get it."

**All comments and critiques welcome! Merry CHRISTmas!**


	7. Waiting for Winifred

**Waiting for Winifred**

While Wilbur and Lewis – and isn't it funny to think of those two names in the same sentence again after all these years – drag the time machines back into the garage and the rest of the family prepares for dinner, Cornelius takes the opportunity to slip off to the outskirts of the Robinson topiary garden.

"Hey Mikey."

The man in question jumps up from where he'd been hiding, sprawled, behind the teapot.

"I've been waiting seven years to ask you about that."

"Oh?"

"I'm not Mikey. Could have been maybe, but I'm not Mikey anymore than I am Goob."

The inventor chuckles. "Fair enough. What _do_ you go by?"

"To be honest-" The man scratches his scruffy shadow of a beard and hums to himself. "I've gone by so many different names since this mess started. I don't know who I am anymore."

Cornelius frowns guiltily. It may not have been his fault that his old roommate had wasted away plotting for revenge but it had been his choice to ask the man who, for the first time in his life, was trying to let go of his past, to relive seven years of it with the added stress of trying not to be caught.

"Maybe this will help." With only a note of trepidation he unbuckles the TAR-15 from his wrist.

"It's a bit more complicated than the memory scanner. Think you can figure it out?"

He laughs. "It'll be a lot simpler when I'm not acting the fool. You really trust me with this?"

Cornelius shrugs overly casually. "if you don't displace yourself soon then this timestream will displace you for you. I had to watch Wilbur be erased. I have no desire to see the same thing happen to my first friend."

"I- huh. You know I really used to think you were a callous, small minded jerk?"

Cornelius chuckles. "Just- If you really want to make it up to me…?"

The man waits but his friend doesn't continue. "yes? I'm not going to say no. Not if I can help it."

Cornelius fixates on his left shoelace. "I've no right to ask more of you but you mentioned that you'd like to learn what it was like to be a father…. And my daughter- somewhere in the waters of time she's out there. I know it. If you could just… make sure her future's happy-"

"What happened to her? I heard the rumors but all talk was discouraged… out of respect."

The bereaved father explains.

The man doesn't point out all the obvious dangers and flaws in such a mission It's all too clear that the inventor is well aware of them as well as the sheer improbability of finding the one Winifred whom should have grown up in this timestream, but if he can fulfill this one last wish- "I'll do my best. I'll make sure she knows her father loves her."

The long treasured pain in Lius' heart eases somewhat. Winni finally has someone on her side. Even if it can't be him.

"Thank you. I'll never forget you. The Robinsons will never forget you."

The time traveler laughs. "See to it that they don't. Or I may just have to return to remind you!"

With that he twists the dials just so. The eddies of time are already beginning to ripple around his shild when he calls out, "Doctor! That's what you can call me; in your stories."

Cornelius laughs, "Doctor _who_?"

"Precisely!" and then he is gone leaving behind an air of mystery that will one day be, and some say already is and has been, famous.

For Cornelius' part however the newly christened Doctor will forever be Mikey Yagoobian, time traveler extraordinaire to be sure, but first and foremost a closer friend than he could have ever anticipated.

**This was the chapter I was most dubious about. I wrote and rewrote it and finally came up with this. A few questions for you guys... On the Doctor- too unbelievable or an interesting crossover? On Winni- too many loose ends at the end of a story or an interesting hint to future sequels? Please let me know!**

**Only the Epilogue to go now.**


	8. Epilogue

**Epilogue: Three Days Later**

It's his first day back at school since the Adventure.

Wilbur has not been able to use it wisely. That's according to his teachers. According to Wilbur he has used the time out from under the supervision of his family very wisely to a very disappointing lack of results.

His doodles, daydreams and religious inattention have, after all, orbited around one very important day; The Birthday. The birthday of the greatest man in the world isn't something be ignored.

Well- Wibur actually had ignored his Dad's birthday the last two years running due to a series of unfortunate events never to be repeated- but he's going to make up for it this year.

Or at least, he would if he could come up with a single thing to get him. No invention of his own could compare. No supplies could not be gotten through the company and at company expense. Pictures are Lazlo's thing, food is Grandma's and concert is Mom's.

"I wish I could just _ask_ Dad what he wants!"

Wilbur freezes. A broad grin creeps over his face. "That's- Actually- Perfect!"

After lunch period Teacher Markel is not particularly surprised to seen an empty seat where her smartest student should be. But neither she nor anyone else outside of the Robinson family could possibly guess where he might have disappeared to. And only one shock-haired inventor knows exactly what adventures Wilbur is about to being with his best friend, Lewis.

**Well that's the last of it! I hope everyone enjoyed it. If there was anything you didn't like now is your chance to say so. The adventures of Wilbur and Lewis will be continued in a series of interrelated but chronological one shots titled "Small Hours". I'm also working on two longer fics titled "Waiting for Wilbur" and "Looking for Lewis". Due to the nature of timetravel one of the largest road blocks to posting them at the moment is figuring out which it would be best to post first and how they should be written as a result of that choice. "Waiting for Wilbur" takes place after Lewis' and Franny's wedding and before Wilbur's birth. "Looking for Lewis" takes place after the movie and before the wedding. If you have any suggestions for that feel free to say so here as well.**

**ttfn! ta, ta for now!**


End file.
